If you’re working to grow an online presence—whether through a blog, business site, or YouTube channel—Google Search Console (GSC) is an invaluable tool that can transform your SEO efforts. GSC offers insights and metrics to help you track your website’s performance, increase visibility, and optimize content for better rankings.
In this guide, we’ll walk through essential steps to Google Search Console, from setup to performance tracking, to get your content in front of the right audience and drive results.
Setting Up Google Search Console for Success
1. Adding Your Website to Google Search Console
To begin, you’ll need to add your website as a “property” in GSC. This is how Google tracks and organizes your site data.
- Visit GSC: Go to Google Search Console and click “Start Now.”
- Add Property: Follow the prompts to add your website. If you haven’t registered your domain yet, do so before proceeding.
- Verify Ownership: Complete verification by adding a code to your website’s DNS settings or using an HTML file. Verification gives Google access to start analyzing your site’s performance.
“You need to go if you have already got your domain…and then follow their Setup Wizard so you can actually register your domain.”
Once verified, GSC becomes your performance dashboard, offering insights on how your site ranks, which pages perform best, and what content drives clicks.
Submitting Your Sitemap
2. Why and How to Submit a Sitemap
A sitemap is essentially a roadmap of your website’s structure, listing all the pages for Google to crawl. Submitting a sitemap helps Google understand the content hierarchy and ensures all relevant pages are indexed.
- Locate Your Sitemap: Most sitemaps are located at
yourwebsite.com/sitemap.xml. - Submit in GSC: Copy the sitemap URL, paste it into the Sitemap section of GSC, and click “Submit.”
“So go ahead, grab your sitemap URL, have a once-over to make sure it looks like the structure of your website, and then submit that.”
Quick Tip: Re-submit your sitemap whenever you make major changes to your site structure. This keeps Google up-to-date on your content and maximizes visibility.
Analyzing Website Performance with GSC
3. Tracking Impressions and Clicks
Once set up, you can dive into performance metrics. Start by checking impressions and clicks over the last 6 to 12 months to see how users are interacting with your content.
- Impressions: This metric shows how often your site appears in search results.
- Clicks: This is the number of times users clicked on your site in the search results.
“Look at your total clicks… as I’ve been paying more attention to this, I’m getting more and more impressions.”
These metrics indicate content effectiveness. For example, high impressions but low clicks could indicate a need for better titles or meta descriptions to attract user clicks.
Summary of Key Metrics:
- Total Impressions: How often your content appears.
- Total Clicks: User engagement rate.
- Average Position: Ranking status for various keywords.
Indexing and Requesting Indexes for New Content
4. Requesting Indexing for Faster Results
Google does not automatically index new pages, which means they may not appear in search results immediately. After publishing, it’s a good habit to manually request indexing to expedite this process.
- Inspect URL: In GSC, go to the “URL Inspection” tool, enter the URL of your new page, and click “Request Indexing.”
- Monitor Status: Check back to ensure the page is indexed and receiving impressions.
“I go on, I post, I publish, then I come over to Google, request indexing…every time you post a good habit is to come on here and then actually request indexing.”
Quick Tip: Regularly inspect URLs for important pages. If a page isn’t indexed, it won’t appear in search results.
Regularly Monitor and Maintain Your SEO Efforts
5. Prioritizing Your SEO Focus with GSC Insights
GSC is not just for initial setup—it’s also a tool for ongoing SEO strategy. Regularly check pages that aren’t indexed or underperforming and consider re-submitting those URLs.
- Review Performance: Periodically check pages that have low visibility or clicks.
- Submit high-value pages: Prioritize important pages for indexing, like new blog posts or service pages.
“I regularly come in here, and I request an index for some of these that I know are blog posts.”
Even if SEO is a secondary focus for you, maintaining these habits can build up organic traffic over time. Each successful click means more users are finding and interacting with your content.
Conclusion: Make GSC Part of Your SEO Strategy
Google Search Console is a powerful tool to elevate your SEO game. By setting up and actively monitoring your website’s performance, you can improve your content’s visibility, index new pages faster, and fine-tune your strategy based on real data. Start implementing these steps today to ensure your content reaches and resonates with the right audience.
